Henry: The can't-do nation

Saturday

Let me say something about pessimism from the point of view of a pessimist. Of course, I expect you won't like it much.

Let me say something about pessimism from the point of view of a pessimist. Of course, I expect you won't like it much.

A New York Times/CBS News poll recently found that Americans are more pessimistic about the prospects for the economy and the nation's overall direction than at any time since President Barack Obama's first two months in office.

If a Pollyanna were here to look on the bright side, she might say this is evidence that a sense of reality has unexpectedly punctuated American consciousness.

The truth is undeniable — we are going through a rough patch at the moment. Heck, when it comes to rough patches, a nudist rolling around a field of thistles as a change from volleyball couldn't strike a rougher patch.

But being an ardent pessimist, these transitory troubles are not my main concern, although I remain pessimistic about them. It seems to me that the greater worry is that these may be symptomatic of historical national decline.

America has always been a can-do country. Kick out the Redcoats? Sure! Expand westward? Of course! End slavery? We can do it! Restore hope to the downtrodden with a New Deal? Yes! Win World War II? No problem! Put a man on the moon? Of course we can!

I could go on but I am running out of question marks and exclamation points. In turn, America has run out of the can-do attitude. We have become can't-doers. No-can-do permeates our politics.

Can we have a space program that is more than the modern equivalent of a pop bottle with a skyrocket in it? The end of the space shuttles suggests we can't.

Can we have universal health care like every other major industrial power? Some of us thought we could, but a can't-do Supreme Court may sink the bill if the Republicans don't succeed first. (Then we can keep our 50 million uninsured Americans.)

Can we ever get out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, those constant drains on the national treasury? We can't seem to do it.

Can we even make meaningful cuts in the defense budget? No we can't. That sacred cow wears full-body armor.

Can we repair all the nation's roads and bridges that were built in the can-do era and are now crumbling? No way we can.

Can we wean ourselves from fossil fuels that make us hostage to people who don't share our values? No can do. Various climate-change-denying fossils just want to make the procurers drill more in this country for our energy drug of choice.

And a year after the Gulf oil spill, can we be assured that nothing like it is likely to happen again? We cannot.

Can we agree that the Environmental Protection Agency should be able to regulate pollution? Sorry, we can't do it. That's because some of us can't agree that regulation is ever a good thing, even though most of us would prefer a meat sandwich from the Food Inspection Deli rather than the Free Market Deli, out of regard for our stomachs.

Can we have Medicare without vouchers? Can we have a Social Security system that doesn't delay people's retirement until they are too old to enjoy it? Apparently not in the future. Can we balance the budget on some other supposition than poor people have all the money? No, we can't.

Can we reach agreement that taxes on the very rich must be in the mix of cuts for everybody else? Not in can't-do America. Can we ever plug the deficit without acknowledging this truth? This we never can do.

Where are the patriotic optimists to counter the national epidemic of pessimism? Where is the leader who can boldly say, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"? (Personally, being a pessimist, I fear we have much more to fear than fear itself — for example, earthquakes, epidemics, the return of leisure suits and a possible outbreak of rolling nudists.)

I am a pessimist among a nation of fallen optimists. Someone surprise us all by saying "America can do."

rhenry@post-gazette.com.

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